Shot Bar Zoetrope

A necessary stop for whiskey lovers. Really nice owner!

Off a small lane, up the elevator to level 3 you’ll find this gem of a whiskey bar. Cosy, friendly and uniquely amazing bar in Shinjuku. Small, 9 seats + 6 bar stools. An extremely friendly owner greets you in fluent English (for tourists like me), and presents a whisky list featuring over 800 mainly Japanese whiskeys. Plenty here for the whisky aficionado, and wife of aficionado alike. It’s hard to describe the laid back, quintessentially Japanese atmosphere of this place. A must visit for the Whisky lover. Other notes: Yes, there’s a cover charge, which is common for small bars in Japan. Free wifi

The best Whiskey bar in Tokyo. The owner is kind of a dick but he warms up quickly around your 3^rd Suntory aged whiskey :)
We had great conversation with other English speakers (not all American), met some very nice Japenese businessmen who we enjoyed the conversation with even more, got an education in single malt, single barrel, blended whiskey, and more! It was a great night in Shinjuku overall.
A note on the owner– although he’s rude and unwelcoming, he’s genuinely a whiskey coniessuer and knows his over 500 products by heart. He’s very passionate about whiskey. It’s kind of respectable in a AA kind of way. More so, we discovered through open, unrestricted, free exchange aka ‘confession’ that because of all the travel books, shows and articles his once locally loved whiskey watering hole had become overran with ‘Gaijin’ or tourists. He wasn’t resentful but he definitely missed the days he could have a whiskey with his regulars as they’ve long since vacated in favor of an izakaya that still retains the local essence.
Regardless a must on any visit to Tokyo Shinjuku-​ku!

I hate cover changes. What the hell is up with charging you 600 yen per person just for entering the bar. What a complete rip off…
So you have gathered now that this place has a cover charge on it and per person not per table. It’s a shame as well cause it’s Actually a really good place. Old style dark moody western saloon, silent movies playing, massive cool whiskey selection and what seemed like quite an interesting owner/​barman.
It’s on the third floor via a lift and is quite hard to spot, but if you like whiskey and have lots of cash to burn and don’t mind about the exorbitant prices and cover charge. You will love this place.
If not for the over charging I would give this place 4 stars, but for me I can only give it two as its a rip off when they already charge you pretty highly for the whisky I’m afraid.

We came here on our last night in Tokyo based on multiple recommendations. Also, we enjoyed the Suntory Yamazaki distillery in Kyoto so much that we were thirsty for more Japanese whisky! It’s a bit difficult to find since it is upstairs off of the main street, but quite a gem once you get there. It’s very small, but the four of us were able to be seated at a table just to the right of the bar. The bartender is extremely knowledgeable about whisky and was happy to make recommendations to us, including the order that we should taste all of them in once he served them to us. I also really liked that there were old movies playing in the bar. If you like whisky, definitely make a stop here on your trip!

Great whiskey! It is a very small bar, but it is an overall nice spot for a drink or two.
There’s so much to choose from, it’s like being given the privilege of tasting the glory of someone’s whiskey collection. This is where I tried Japanese whiskey for the first time and it was a fantastic experience. The service was great (or maybe I was too buzzed to know what’s going on) and they all knew how to best address my questions about which whiskey to try.
I highly recommend!

It was a good idea to go there. The bar is very small but I like this small locations in Japan.
I had birthday and the owner gave me a piece of cake, it was very nice!
I had a great time there. I didn’t have any whiskey but the cocktails are tasting good!

this place is really good, even if you’re not THAT into whisky (ahem, like me). but the hubs thoroughly enjoyed trying all the rare whiskys that one cannot buy for themselves. the owner has such a VAST selection to choose from, you could be there for hours on end & still only get through a couple shelves of whisky.
the service was friendly & the owner seemed to warm up to us when asking more questions about types of whisky & his recommendations.
my only negative would be that it seemed to cater to the tourist, which isn’t always the best experience. it’s also a great little place to stopover at before/​after dinner.
also, i would’ve LOVED if they were able to make awesome whisky cocktails (for me), but my husband enjoyed it so much i have to give it 4 stars. :)
bottom line: it’s a great place with lots of rare whiskys & was easy to get in. don’t hesitate to go & check it out!
ps. i also loved the vintage movies & toys decorating the place!

BOTTOM LINE: Fantastic whisky bar and your best place to start exploring what Japanese distilleries have to offer.
Located just around the corner from Tokyo Mentsudan (not a bad place to fill up before imbibing), look for the red signage that will point your way to the 3^rd floor where it’s located. The place looked A LOT smaller than most of the pictures I had seen, so it’s best you arrive a bit earlier to get a seat. The 6 of us easily filled up nearly half the place. The bartender was welcoming and quite the character — let’s just say there are only a select few individuals who can pull off a Hawaiian shirt like he can.
While their selection is large, it can be overwhelming to know where to even start. The bartender speaks English so he can help guide you, but for me, I jumped right at their tasting flights. They offer both vertical and horizontal flights, and I chose the Suntory vs. Nikka tasting set for 4500Y (see picture). This was really great because I was able to narrow down my favourites and pick up 1 of my 2 favourites (ugh, the Single Malt Yamazaki 12 year was sold out!). If you don’t mind paying duty, you should check out Liqours Hasegawa at the Yaesu Underground Shopping Centre near Tokyo Station.

If you only know about one Japanese whisky (and I’m intentionally using the spelling more common in Japan), it’s likely from the Suntory distillery, made famous in the movie Lost in Translation («for relaxing times, make it Suntory time»). If you are fan of the whisky like I am, you may have seen that scene and been curious about the availability of said whisky in the States. The good news is that there are a few Suntory products widely available and all of them are quite good. The bad news is that once you’ve explored this space, your options in the US for sampling other fine Japanese whiskies are very limited.
And so on a recent trip to Tokyo, one of my primary objectives was to sample a good number of non-​exported Japanese spirits. After a bit of research, I came across Shot Bar Zoetrope as the place to go if you want to indulge. When I came to the building where it purported to be, I was skeptical. This did not look like a place that would house a temple to Japanese whisky. I got in a tiny, old elevator and punched the number for the floor I was mostly sure Zoetrope was on. I was nervous.
And then the doors opened. If there were whisky angels, they would have been drunkenly belting out tunes as I crossed the threshold of what is surely one of the greatest whisky bars on Earth. The space is teeny tiny but the bar is absolutely packed with hundreds of bottles of deliciousness.
I sat down at the bar and picked up a massive and intimidating menu. Fortunately, the barkeep spoke very good English and pointed me in the right direction. There was also an English menu so I could peruse a bit on my own. I sampled 4 different local whiskies, all of which were incredible. The bartender told me about each one, about where the distillery was located and gave me a bit of history of whisky distilling in Japan.
Feeling very happy and a bit tipsy, I was given two amazing tips before I departed: First, the bartender told me about a liquor store down the street, Shinanoya, where I could purchase most of the whiskies I’d tried that evening. Then, he pointed me to a page in the menu that listed all the Japanese whiskies sold at the airport so I would know which to buy there; the duty free shops would offer them at a substantial discount.
I came back to the States with a great whisky experience, knowledge of some new distilleries, and 4 fine bottles of Japanese spirits that I will savor until I can return to Tokyo, and to Zoetrope, again.